Comerica Bank Raises Stake in Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS)

Comerica Bank grew its holdings in shares of Littelfuse, Inc. (NASDAQ:LFUS) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,076 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 743 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank owned 0.17% of Littelfuse worth $10,197,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LFUS. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Littelfuse by 105.9% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares in the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Littelfuse during the first quarter worth about $375,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in Littelfuse by 66.7% in the first quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 28,113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,817,000 after purchasing an additional 11,247 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in Littelfuse by 223.8% during the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 313,927 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $76,080,000 after purchasing an additional 216,985 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC increased its holdings in Littelfuse by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 347,223 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $84,149,000 after purchasing an additional 6,030 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.14% of the company’s stock.

Littelfuse Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LFUS traded down $12.06 on Thursday, reaching $255.05. The company had a trading volume of 93,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 137,959. The company has a quick ratio of 2.44, a current ratio of 3.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $258.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $246.35. Littelfuse, Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.80 and a twelve month high of $275.58.

Littelfuse (NASDAQ:LFUS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The technology company reported $1.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $558.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $540.35 million. Littelfuse had a net margin of 8.71% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Littelfuse, Inc. will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Littelfuse Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. This is a positive change from Littelfuse’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 22nd. Littelfuse’s payout ratio is currently 29.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on LFUS shares. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Littelfuse from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Littelfuse in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark restated a “hold” rating on shares of Littelfuse in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised Littelfuse from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $270.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of Littelfuse from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Littelfuse presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $272.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Littelfuse news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 300 shares of Littelfuse stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $81,951.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares in the company, valued at $16,295,683.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Littelfuse news, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 300 shares of Littelfuse stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.17, for a total transaction of $81,951.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 59,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,295,683.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Heinzmann sold 3,786 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.92, for a total value of $1,037,061.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,340,423.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,724 shares of company stock worth $3,582,565. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Littelfuse

Littelfuse, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells electronic components, modules, and subassemblies in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The company operates through Electronic, Transportation, and Industrial segments. The Electronics segment offers fuses and fuse accessories, positive temperature coefficient resettable fuses, electromechanical switches and interconnect solutions, polymer electrostatic discharge suppressors, varistors, reed switch based magnetic sensing products, and gas discharge tubes; and discrete transient voltage suppressor (TVS) diodes, TVS diode arrays, protection and switching thyristors, metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors and diodes, and insulated gate bipolar transistors.